Google has announced the launch of a new domain registration service. Called Google Domains, it is being launched as an invite-only beta for both new domain registrations and domain transfers. While Google itself isn't offering any website building tools, they've partnered with several website building companies, including Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, and Shopify, in order to provide full services for domain buying customers.

Users currently need a special invitation code to either buy or transfer domains through Google Domains. Google said they hope to make it "more widely available soon" and that they are using the early invite-only beta to work out any issues (e.g., customer support, services) that arise.

Features of Google Domains service:

As I mentioned above, this is not the first time Google is dealing with domains, but as a domain registrar; this is the first time, users will be able to buy domains directly from Google. As announced by Google+ Your Business on Google plus, this is at testing phase and fully functional Google domains service will be launched in the near future.

Easy mail setup

We edit your domain's MX records to point to Google’s mail servers. Just turn on Gmail in your Admin console and users start receiving mail at your domain’s Gmail accounts.

Custom service addresses

We edit your domain's CNAME records so users can reach your services at easy-to-remember addresses, such as mail.yourdomain.com or calendar.yourdomain.com.

Auto-renewal from your Admin console

You initially purchase your domain for a year. After that, you must renew your subscription with your domain host. You can renew your subscription automatically from your Google Admin console. Just sign in to your console and click Domains to get started.

Full DNS control and domain management

Even though we auto-configure your domain for Google services, you still have full control over your domain’s DNS settings. You can access these settings to add support for non-Google services or to contact your domain host. You can easily reach your external domain host account via your Google Admin console.

Domain locking at no extra charge
Our partners provide an additional level of security to protect against unauthorized domain transfers.

Google domains website builders

Google domains is also partnered with many popular website builders like Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix.com to let user create beautiful websites with zero technical experience. If you are new to Website builders here you can learn about advantages of website builders and here is a list of 5 popular website builders.

Buy new domain extensions

2014 is a golden year for domain industry, and many new domain extensions were launched this year. Google domains will be selling new domain extensions as well. Though if you don’t want to wait to buy new domain extensions like .guru, .photography, you can grab these new domain extensions right now at a reasonable price from ShoutMyDomain right away.

Along with this you will be getting all standard features offered by popular domain registrars like Domain locking, customisable sub-domain to name a few.At this moment it’s hard to predict the public launch of Google domains service, but anyone with Google domain invite code can start buying or transferring domain names to Google domains. You can request for Google domains invite code over here. For now, you can browse their invite only site from the link below.

Check out Google domains

As an end-user I’m pretty excited to see another big player jumping into domain business. One of the big selling points with Google Domains is that they aren't charging an extra fee for private registration, something that often costs just as much as the domain registration itself with other registrars. Users with their domains registered through Google Domains also get up to 100 email addresses and custom subdomains. Domain registration is only $12 per year, which makes it slightly cheaper than GoDaddy's rate, however with domain privacy free through Google Domains, it makes it significantly cheaper than GoDaddy's $20.98 for both registration and regular privacy of a .com domain name.